


Pride and Predecessors

by Ankaret



Category: 19th Century CE RPF, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, The Comfortable Courtesan - Madame C- C-
Genre: Crossover, Epistolary, Humor, Other, RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 06:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10588344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ankaret/pseuds/Ankaret
Summary: Jane Austen writes in some annoyance to her sister Cassandra about the changes she must make to her manuscript to avoid being accused of writing a roman á clef.





	

MY DEAR CASSANDRA

It has been a brisk dull morning here, with much rain and wind, and also a visit from the Misses Root. It was much balm to me to open your letter. I was especially pleased when I saw that your stay in Sloan-street had made you suggest some emendation to the _manuscript_ , for you know I am a poor dull creature and do not mix in the politest of society. Or so it seems after a long visit from the Misses Root. 

Your criticisms on the phrasing are so _just_ , that I cannot go boil myself in contempt for them, and adducing of ridiculous motives to _you_ , but must only thank you. 

As for your suggestion upon the _situations_ , I could cry with vexation, were it not that our brother Henry would certainly remark on my red nose. By what right do these _great London persons_ arrange themselves in such a way that my poor Mss, should it come to publication, will be taken as a _roman á clef_? 

I have looked at the Mss. again, and I believe I may keep my Mr D-. He may be tall, impatient, dark in his looks, a good rider, a fine shot, a fighter of duels and the grandson of a Duke and _not_ be taken as a cipher for Viscount R-; for many respectable persons are the grandchildren of Dukes, and cannot help it. To seal the matter, his house is not at all in the same architectural style, or will not be when I have been at work with my _amendments_. But oh! my Miss B- of thirty-six years, with her high spirits and sharp wit, the generous love she bears her dear nieces Miss J- B- and Miss F- B- and the patience she must summon (tho' not at all hers by nature) to live with an exacting sister-in-law! And my Mr O'R-, the friend of the bosom of Mr D- and the suitor of Miss J- B-, with his delight in philosophy and his constant feelings of being _neither Irish nor English_ that make him prickly among even those for whom he has the truest regard! 

I must confess to a _resentment_ against the Viscount and his circle which would astonish him, should he hear of it, since I have never to my knowledge said a word to him, and only seen him once across the Park. What business has he sharing his Town house with a lady with sparkling dark eyes and a reputation as a fine house-keeper, that is the _better angel_ of a wealthy millwright? (The character of the comic millwright must go too, I suppose, but I care little about that, as I was unable to make him _animate_ in any particular. Mr D-'s foil shall instead be a clergyman or a schoolmaster, or some other creature I may _draw from life_.) Why must the lady have given her youngest child the very name I had chosen for Miss F-B-? I shall make her Lydia instead, after Miss Lydia Roots, and I wish her joy of it. 

To continue my grievances anent the Viscount - why must his secretary be a Scotsman who, as you tell me, resembles my Mr O'R- in looks (though I had not describ'd his looks, if you have drawn them so from your reading, I am sure no person of sensibility could imagine him otherwise)? And why, pray, must this secretary have recently elop'd to _Italy_ with a lady whose _very portrait_ I showed you as that of Miss J- B-? 

I believe the book may be patched together. Miss B- shall lose seventeen of her years, and become the _younger sister_ of Miss J-, who now ascends to be known as Miss B- herself - though it is a pity that no one now will understand the joke when she says that she loved D- only when she saw his house. I shall add a few more sisters, though I may not trouble to flesh them out much. Mr O'R- shall dwindle into an utterly English Mr Battersby - or Bentham - and become as meek as milk and as uninteresting as one of Miss Roots' concertos. His countenance shall be fair - his hair without a trace of the Hibernian - and for this sacrifice I suppose I may give him a fine competence to live on. 

Henry comes in this moment with the frank, and says that it is a fine walk to the post office. I shall write to my aunt tomorrow. If you see any coloured muslin, pray write to me with the price at which it may be had - and if you pass the doorstep of the Viscount R-, I hope you will feel obliged to pray for those within, as victims of the wrath of your much-tried sister. 

Give my love to all at Sloan-street. 

J.A.


End file.
